The Brest Prison (French - ''bagne de Brest'') was a 254m long

prison A prison, also known as a jail, gaol, penitentiary, detention center, correction center, correctional facility, or remand center, is a facility where Prisoner, people are Imprisonment, imprisoned under the authority of the State (polity), state ...

Brest, France Brest (; ) is a port, port city in the Finistère department, Brittany (administrative region), Brittany. Located in a sheltered bay not far from the western tip of a peninsula and the western extremity of metropolitan France, Brest is an impor ...

. It was built between 1749 and 1751 by

Antoine Choquet de Lindu Antoine Choquet de Lindu (7 November 1712, in Brest – 7 October 1790, in Brest) was a French architect and military engineer in the service of the French Navy. Life Choquet de Lindu was born in Brest on 7 November 1712, into a family of admini ...

, dominating the military port it was built to serve. It could house 3000 prisoners (sometimes as much as 10% of the town's population), children as young as 11 as well as older people. It was closed in 1858, and demolished in the late 1940s.

History

Its construction was launched after

Louis XV of France Louis XV (15 February 1710 – 10 May 1774), known as Louis the Beloved (), was King of France from 1 September 1715 until his death in 1774. He succeeded his great-grandfather Louis XIV at the age of five. Until he reached maturity (then defi ...

, by an ordinance of 27 September 1748, transferred the (previously independent)

galley A galley is a type of ship optimised for propulsion by oars. Galleys were historically used for naval warfare, warfare, Maritime transport, trade, and piracy mostly in the seas surrounding Europe. It developed in the Mediterranean world during ...

s to the control of the

French Navy The French Navy (, , ), informally (, ), is the Navy, maritime arm of the French Armed Forces and one of the four military service branches of History of France, France. It is among the largest and most powerful List of navies, naval forces i ...

, to allow him to provide crews for galleys cheaply. Galley prisoners were previously held on their galleys - now they would be housed in new prisons, such as that at Brest. On two levels divided into 4 large sections, the building could house 400-500 prisoners and was designed to house the police cheaply, prevent prisoners escaping and providing for prisoners' vital needs. Its siting was controversial. Though many citizens of Brest wanted it to be built within the Arsenal enclosure, no site "below the cliff" provided enough room for such a construction or suitable for its sanitary needs (running water, ventilation, and so on). Finally built at Lannouron, on the left bank of the

Penfeld The Penfeld (;The ''d'' was added in the 17th century by a naval engineer influenced by the German word ''feld'' - the name is masculine in the Breton language. ) is a French coastal river. The town of Brest, in Finistère, has grown up on its le ...

, between the high corderie, barracks and hospital. Closed in 1858 since its living conditions were adjudged to be too soft after reports from workers there and after baron Portal's report, its prisoners were moved to penitentiary colonies.

Prison life

Famous prisoners

Eugène-François Vidocq Eugène-François Vidocq (; 24 July 1775 – 11 May 1857) was a French criminal turned criminalist, whose life story inspired several writers, including Victor Hugo, Edgar Allan Poe, and Honoré de Balzac. He was the founder and first director ...

, son of an

Arras Arras ( , ; ; historical ) is the prefecture of the Pas-de-Calais department, which forms part of the region of Hauts-de-France; before the reorganization of 2014 it was in Nord-Pas-de-Calais. The historic centre of the Artois region, with a ...

baker, escaped from here as well as from the prison in Toulon and later became chief of police.

Bibliography

* JARNOUX, Philippe, ''Survivre au bagne de Brest'', Brest, Éd. "Le Télégramme", 2003, 117 p. * JOANNIC-SETA, Frédérique, ''Le bagne de Brest, 1749-1800. Naissance d'une institution carcérale au siècle des lumières'', Rennes, Presses universitaires de Rennes, 2000, 360 p.

External links

Prison life at Brest
{{coord, 48.3925, -4.495, format=dms, display=title, type:landmark Government buildings completed in 1751 Defunct prisons in France

Prison A prison, also known as a jail, gaol, penitentiary, detention center, correction center, correctional facility, or remand center, is a facility where Prisoner, people are Imprisonment, imprisoned under the authority of the State (polity), state ...

1751 establishments in France 1858 disestablishments in France Buildings and structures demolished in 1944 18th-century architecture in France